Review of Flags of Our Fathers (2006) by Deep G — 18 Dec 2009

An interesting, albeit clearly weaker half of Clint Eastwood's massive undertaking to tell the story of Iwo Jima. In many ways this movie deserves to be seen with the masterful Letters from Iwo Jima, but I fear that the contrast between the two film would in a way weaken the whole undertaking.

What lets this film down is not the direction of screen master Eastwood, but it is sadly the cast...Ryan Phillippe? Jesse Bradford? Paul Walker? Why not just cast the Backstreet Boys instead? The only people worth watching here are Adam Beach who steals the show each time he walks on-screen as the torn Marine thrust very unwillingly into the limelight and propped up like a puppet of the War Department, and the always-capturing Barry Pepper (who is just meant to play 1940's army dude roles from the South it seems, but he does it so well!).